Story:Kings of Strife/Int 5
Intermission Five The young guard in the steel blue, almost gray armor stood near his post with a lance propped against his shoulder. The Honrisian light pink shoulder cape fell from beneath his left shoulder pauldron. Devoid of a helmet, his head fell carelessly, his chin dripping with saliva as it touched his chest. He stood on the wall before the small-sized stone outpost; far behind that, on the tall rising hill of Honrisian countryside, stood a castle of crystal white stone. Taoris took a step forward, and the boy jumped awake. His armor was light and form-fitting, and it audibly shifted once he moved. The boy looked to Taoris, his light blond hair shivering in spikes and his dark brown eyes twinkling. “Who are you?” The guard asked. “I am Death.” The guard stepped backwards, lowering his weapon to point it at Taoris. “N-no! I’m not ready! Stay away from me!” His eyes wrinkled with fear and exhaustion. Taoris stepped forward. ‘Veit,’ he told himself. ‘I am Constantus Veit now.’ In his long red cloak, long enough to completely cover his tall and muscular body and trail on the floor around him, he looked the part of intimidating reaper. He was still the Crimson Death – he always would be cursed with that name – but now, with his hair roughly cut to just below his neck and his bangs trimmed, he did not look like Gin Taoris. He was Constantus Veit. ‘I am Constantus Veit. The Crimson Death.’ “Take me to President Jolynus,” Veit growled. The guard trembled in response even more than he did when presented with his apparent mortality. Veit’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I’m offering you a chance to escape your fate, for a time.” The soldier’s lance wavered and his half-cape flew beneath him on a gust of wind. “I do not serve her anymore. None of us do.” “Then who rules from that castle behind you?” Veit shifted his hand, pulling on the hilt of one of his blades and letting the steel ring from beneath his cloak. His intentions were clear. “I do not have time to trifle with you.” Despite himself, the soldier chuckled. “Never thought Death would come for me with a sword… Always thought it’d be a scythe.” Veit stepped forward, and the young soldier jumped again. “Wait, please! President Jolynus is gone. She was… She vanished, when that castle appeared. We have a new President now.” Veit paused. Vainia had said nothing about a new President of Honris. “The castle… appeared? And your President vanished?” He stared long and hard at the guard. “Open the gate,” he commanded with a nod of his head. The boy hesitated, but after a moment he lowered his spear and gave three knocks and a whistle to the tall stone opening to the wall’s gate. Moments later, the gate lurched and started to slowly rise as chains from the other side grinded against metal. The soldier turned, words upon his lips, but only uttered a horrified gasp as Veit rushed forward, red cloak flying backwards from his body at the speed of his movements. Light flashed as Veit’s large claymore escaped its sheath and slashed horizontally, cutting the man in half right below the shoulders, armor and all. His head, both arms, and lower body fell to the ground, spraying red blood onto Veit’s red cloak as they descended. The gate opened fully once the body hit the ground, and Veit started to walk forward, his blade in hand. That one was worthless, but had helped in his goal, so Veit had made his death quick. The claymore in his left hand dripped with blood as he walked into the outpost, and it became bathed in it once he quickly cut through the two men holding the gate open for him. The outpost was little more than a short building, devoid of even a tower, and the wall around it. Built into a high shelf of gray rock, behind it lay a long road that curled up the hill and cliff leading to the crystalline castle. The entire island was similar; hills, cliffs, elevated settlements, and deserted roads. Veit had arrived not long ago, and had not met a single civilian in his time traveling from the port city of Hypnos. There were only soldiers and merchants, bartenders and sellswords, and men in dark green cloaks atop the city’s clock tower. They were scarce in information, but this was the first he had heard of President Jolynus disappearing. Honris’ seat of power was thankfully not far from Hypnos, built long ago on the southernmost tip of Honris’ rocky lands. There were few large cities in this unforgiving country, most of its population content with farming what they could off the tide-licked rocks or toiling endlessly into the dark depths beneath the hills. They seemed to be content with darkness and unfulfilling lands. Veit had never been in this country before, and he could already tell he would not return. He burst into the small stone outpost, startling one guard falling asleep in a chair near the door and another standing near the back door with his arms crossed. The claymore in his left hand exploded forward as he threw it at the back door’s guard, and the target’s throat exploded with blood and a scream as the flung claymore smashed right below his adam’s apple. The weapon continued to fly, impaling itself in the hard gray wall and leaving the body twitching and jerking reflexively on the steel. Not a second after this, Veit spun around with his right hand extended. He caught the sitting guard in the throat with his grip and lifted him forward, slamming him on the wall next to the door he kicked down. The guard gasped and clawed at Veit’s hand, but he was losing strength fast with how strong the choke was. “Who is in that castle?” Veit loosened his grip enough to allow the guard to breath. “Don’t make me repeat myself, or I’ll claw your throat out and leave you like your friend back there.” The guard’s eyes darted behind the Crimson Death and saw his comrade, blood and vomit trailing from his mouth onto the blade that impaled him. “T-The new President! Please, spare me!” Veit’s eyes narrowed and he put his face close to the soldier’s. “Who is this new President? How did they and their castle appear out of nowhere?” The guard started to violently trmble. “It was a flash of lightning, or something greater, and then the Castle was there! She and her men appeared, and the highest generals defected to her side instantly, and – and – the sea! She had her men come from the sea, too, and they smashed a squad of rebels instantly! We had to do what they said. She said she was the true President. Jolynus was a lie. Please, that’s all I know, let me go, please!” Veit made a fist with his right hand and crushed the soldier’s throat. That was a relatively painless death, he reasoned, for one who cooperated easily. He let go of the corpse and let it fall to the ground as he turned and started towards the back of the outpost. As he walked by the long-dead impaled soldier, Veit pulled his sword free and spun it, allowing the free blood to fly off its metal before he slammed it back in its sheath. He stopped a few paces up the road. Only five soldiers at an outpost guarding the President’s castle? They were all weak younglings easily dispatched, as well. He grit his teeth and clenched his jaw. This could easily be chalked up to the weakness of Honris as a whole, or it could be a signal of alarm. Either the real strength was in the castle, or there was nothing in the castle. Veit hoped it was the former, as the latter would end up a waste of his time. “I hope you’re right about this, Vainia,” Veit growled to himself as he continued walking. There were no more soldiers along the road, not even any on the cliffs watching. The castle awaited him at the top of the hill, and a medium sized lake was right behind the castle below a significant drop in the rocks. This country was old, and looked as if it were untouched from its founding days. Who knew how long ago that was, or what purpose this part of the world served? Who could know what any part of the world was, or who created it? The world was large and boundless. Veit had traveled most of it all, and had killed men of every skin tone. Death knolls of every language. But something about this castle, with its crystalline walls and silent ramparts, set him out of his comfort zone. What was he thinking? He was the Crimson Death. He could not be killed. This was his world, and his blades governed who lived and died. He controlled that. Nobody could take that away from him. He pushed open the doors to the crystal castle, and once they opened fully, they exploded into hundreds of glass-like shards. Once the shower of glittering broken crystals fell to the ground, the light from outside reflected off the thousand pieces and lit up the doorway. This allowed Veit to fully see inside to the foyer of the building. All of the walls were made with transparent crystal; they brought the light inside, to bounce off and reflect from each other, and the foyer looked endless. The army within it looked empty. He counted how many men stood guard within seconds. Five men, all in dark green cloaks that trailed right above their ankles, all holding short swords or rifles. With the reflections from the walls, they stretched on and on until they appeared infinitesimal… but even then, Veit knew he could take them. He would not have to die trying. They raised their weapons and he was a hair away from pouncing into a whirlwind of blood when a woman’s voice froze them all. “Lower your weapons, all of you.” Veit stopped in place, muscles still alert but momentarily frozen. Both of his claymores were in his hands, ready to shed blood. All of the men in cloaks lowered their weapons and stepped back. Their eyes did not move away from staring at the Crimson Death, but they all parted and allowed the speaker to make herself clear. “We have been expecting you.” The woman stepped forward. “Welcome to my castle. The new President’s Palace.” Her appearance was not something Veit could have expected. A long, wide, and flowing blue coat the same shade as the sky wrapped around her curves in places and flew about her like a cape in others. Her face was beautifully sculpted, chiseled with just the right amount of roundness, and long black hair fell to her back with vitality. She was barefoot, and as she stepped forward, her robe danced about her as if it were alive. After a moment, Veit realized that she was not wearing anything beneath her robe. “Are you the new president?” He asked. Still keeping his eyes on the armed men around her, he stood up to his full height and lowered his blades, but did not put them away. “I come from Lady Vainia of Shorica. I have business with the President.” “Yes, I am,” she stated. Her eyes were dark and tempestuous as they looked over her. Veit noticed that her hands were wrapped in her sleeves, and what sounded like metal moved as she did. “Follow me. We have much to talk about.” When she said this, the president turned away and started walking towards an opaque glass door that led further into the castle. Veit followed her, his own red cloak open at the chest and falling in line behind him. The men in green stood and watched him as he walked past them. “I take it you know why I am here.” Veit followed a pace behind the female president, just far enough behind her that he could swing a sword and cut her in two. The hallway they walked in was wide enough for him to barely hold his blade out, and its walls were also transparent. Hundreds of reflections bounced back onto each other, giving the castle a dimension of infinite visual space. “I do. Queen Vainia wishes for the help of Honris in attacking Inusia. She knows we, as all other nations, are allied with Inusia. She seeks to undermine that long and powerful alliance.” “She demands it. Nneoh has already agreed to fight on her side. You will be next.” “Will we?” The president turned and looked at Veit with half closed eyes. Her very appearance taunted him, daring him to open his heart and show her all his secrets. She was beautiful, he noticed, and had heavy feminine curves. “Just who are you, sir?” “Constantus Veit. Knight Baron to Queen Nolstuvainia Sestrum. Defender of her eternal realm.” That was what he practiced. The title that Vainia had given onto him. Even now, it didn’t feel like he was giving the full truth. ‘Gin Kama Taoris. The Crimson Death. Murderer, kinslayer, rapist, and drinker of blood.’ That was his real title. He was not noble. He was not a defender of anything. He had not been ashamed of that, ever, until Vainia drafted him into her army. Her future. The president laughed. She came to another opaque door and opened it with delicate hands. The hallway led them to a large and wide balcony overlooking a cliff behind the castle. Some feet below, the large lake spread wide across the rocky land, and far into the horizon, another cliff was seen. From the balcony they could hear this waterfall cascading down into the ocean below. “The President’s Palace,” the woman stated grandly as she walked forward. Her pale hands spread into the air ahead of her before settling onto the railing at the end of the large veranda. “Isn’t it gorgeous?” “It’s unnatural.” Veit mumbled as he stepped forward. He looked at the two green-cloaked men standing guard right outside the doorway with discomfort. This entire situation felt… off. “The guards said it came out of nowhere. And that you did, too.” She turned around and rested her elbows on the railing. The action moved her coat apart slightly, and her cleavage increased to lewd levels. Her dark eyebrows raised suggestively. “I control Honris. Does Vainia want my cooperation, or not?” “She does. And she will have it.” “Perhaps. You’re an aggressive one,” the president noted with a nod of her head. “I get the job done. Queen Vainia needs results. Will you provide them?” The president laughed. “You’re not giving me much of a choice, are you?” She turned around and looked back over the lake. The sun was high in the sky and its light glittered on the water, but the air was not hot or oppressively humid. Right on cue, rather, a gust of chilly wind blew from the ocean and tossed the president’s long hair into waves behind her. “By now, Queen Vainia has taken the fortress at Icarun by force thanks to her Nneonian alliance. You will agree to her terms and provide aid to make sure she lasts through Inusian counterattacks, or there will be consequences.” “Has she?” Veit saw the president’s eyebrow rise again. “What sort of consequences?” “You’d rather not know. I’d rather not repeat myself.” A moment passed, and the president considered this. Veit looked over his shoulder a couple times, but the guards with rifles were patiently biding their time. They showed no aggression towards him, but he did not know how long that would last. This silence irritated him; Veit wanted this over with, and to escape this fantastical location. Either that, or he wanted the lake before him to run red with blood. At length the president spoke again. “I have a country to run, now. It is completely under my control. Do you know how easy it is to convince a populace that their land is yours rightfully to rule?” She gave him no time to respond. “I suppose you would. Lady Vainia performed the same sorcery over Shorica.” “If you’re trying to be clever…” “No, no! Of course not. I’m trying to be considering. Seven million people, Sir Veit. That is how many people live in Honris. Do you think I’d enjoy sending them all to their deaths?” “That isn’t what Queen Vainia requests.” “Oh, but it is. I may give her all the troops she requires, as she pleases, or I may only support her with resources and weapons. Either way, a Honrisian man or woman will die. Either on an Inusian battlefield or in their own homes. Do you and her think Inusia won’t respond with deadly force? Do you not think they have the strongest military in the world?” Veit’s brow tightened as he frowned. He felt his veins protruding over his temples with impatience. The urge to kill was rising within him; the earlier bloodshed had agitated his bloodlust. “No, I don’t think that. As long as I am in it, Queen Vainia has the mightiest army.” The president gave a hearty laugh. “You are clearly powerful; I will give you that. Confident, as well. Your answer was no, was it? That is correct. You are wise.” She turned halfway and looked to him with a proud look. Veit found himself constantly reminded of just how beautiful she was… It was almost unworldly. “Are you going to ally with Queen Vainia, or not?” “Oh, Veit.” She laughed again, not out of amusement at his words but out of scorn. She looked so full of scorn, Veit realized – every inch of her pale skin radiated it. Scorn and power. That was what made him uncomfortable. “I know who you are, and why you came. I know what happened to Vainia, and it isn’t what you – or her – hoped. Your plans won’t come to fruition.” “Excuse me? Answer my question. Don’t make me repeat myself.” “Who can say who orchestrates a tragedy?” More scorn, and more laughs. “I have seen what you will do, and what all will do. We all know, Veit. The world will erupt in war, and the change will come.” Veit did not respond. He looked over to the two men behind him. They still looked straight forward, and they still had their rifles in their hands. It would be easy to kill them in seconds and dash forward to threaten the president, but what if she had a weapon? What if she escaped? It would make more sense to injure her first before attacking her guards, even if this did end up with him wounded. The damage wouldn’t be too bad, and he could always escape without further trouble if she was taken as a hostage. His mind raced with plans and his hands started to move towards his blade hilts. The president spoke again. “Do you know who I really am? Do you know what I am a part of? You do. I know the memory isn’t lost in there, not truly. The alliance with Inusia is a bullied one, weight thrown around to justify stagnation. There is more out there. Puppeteers over alliances, dancing upon strings.” More worthless rambling without concrete answers. Veit whirled around, his stocky muscled arms and the claymores held by then rising into the air, ready for blood. ‘Death,’ he thought to himself with satisfaction at finally taking care of his urges. ‘I am Death.’ He jumped forward, but within two steps the sounds of metal falling to the floor echoed throughout the large balcony. His blades flew through the air and his muscles flexed, but before the large slabs of metal could dig into the throats of the two alarmed guards, a voice echoed through the veranda. All motion stopped once the president spoke again. Except this was not the president’s voice, not truly. This was someone else. A new woman, one with a more relaxed and sadistic manner. Sinister and strong. She sounded like Vainia. Veit froze before slowly turning towards her after she cleared her throat. The president looked at him with a finger upon her full lips. Her eyes had changed. Before, they were dark cobalt and barely visible beneath her enticing face and small eyes, almost beady in their incognito appearance. But now they seemed to glow bright golden, and her eyes were wide open with hunger. “You think you can ignore me?” She said. A teasing smile curled on her lips. “Or tell me what I will do with my country? Hah. You are powerful, but to me you are an ant. I will destroy everything that defies me, and take your Queen with it.” Her arms were resting on the railway, and fat black chains wrapped all around them. The chains went inside her robe and snaked around her feet; from her hands, they trailed down and connected to two long, wicked blue knives. Alarm rang off in Veit’s mind, and he quickly jumped backwards as she flicked her hands forward. The knives went flying towards him and cut through the air where he had been a moment ago. Veit moved with foresight, and as he moved backwards, he flipped his claymores in his grip. This allowed him to stab them through the henchmen who moved forward to attack him right in their chests; a moment later he jerked his arms forward and flipped the claymores back to their orthodox position in his hands, and the two corpses behind him fell to the ground. “You’re faster than you look, big guy,” the president stated with a smile. She stepped forward, her hips dancing and the robe floating about unnaturally. The air suddenly grew more humid, and sweat fell down Veit’s brow. She teased him, but the scorn was still present in her bright eyes, now more than ever. “But you’re still just a human.” “Don’t toy with me,” Veit growled as he ran forward. “As if I’d let some foolish politican attack me!” He swung both his blades to her from one side with power mighty enough to crush any blade or chain she threw his way. The president made no effort to dodge; if anything, she looked to him and opened her arms with anticipation. His blades cut right through her, but the colors of her body did not explode with red. They shifted and were pushed by his strike as if she were mist. Her entire body softened, changed, without explanation, and she danced backwards. Veit dropped his arms and looked at her with wide eyes as her form grew and floated backwards. She no longer had legs, and her robe no longer clung to her body. It faded, became midnight blue smoke, fog; her bottom half became a large cloud, and the chains below her became strings of quickly moving black gas. The only part of her that looked solid were her arms that poked out from the cloud around her body, and her body above the chest. And her eyes, those shining golden light-towers of scorn, a constellation in the flesh; they were solid, always solid. “What the… What are you?” He had not felt fear in years. Only a few occasions thus far had given him reason to fear for his life. This was one of them. “I am the seraphic mist of sovereignty that sits upon the throne of evolution. Tell Vainia that she cannot command me.” The President of Vapor gestured her hand towards Veit, and a snake of black mist curled around his neck. “What are you doing? Stop this!” The Crimson Death tried to swipe at it with his sword, but like mist, it only dissipated and reappeared in the same spot. His only response was a laugh from the president as she clenched her hand into a fist, and the mist manifested into physical form again – as the black chains that once covered her skin. Veit found himself immediately held up into the air as the chain choked him. Out of shock, his hands opened and he dropped his dual weaposn onto the ground. He was able to hold onto the chains near his neck, but after a short distance in front of him they returned into their mist form. The president smiled at his shock and his tremors. “Finally… Finally, the Leader is right. I am getting the success I deserve. I was a fool to doubt him!” She laughed haughtily as her fist continued to tighten and Veit continued to lose his breath. “It will be over soon, Sir Veit. Do not worry.” ‘Not yet,’ Veit said to himself. ‘I will not die.’ Moving quickly before he could lose energy, Veit removed his hands from the chains around his throat and ripped the cloak from around his neck. The cloth wrapped around his fist and he whipped it forward. It caught onto the president’s outstretched fist, one of the few solid parts of her, and wrapped around it with a crack; before she could do anything else, Veit yanked his makeshift-whip to the side, dragging open the president’s hand and removing the chains from around his neck. She cried out at his action. Veit landed back on the ground and reached forward to pick up his swords. With an aggressive yell, he stepped forward and slashed to the side, dispelling the mist of her body and forcing the president to reform behind Veit. Her slim fingers and long nails danced on his shoulders from behind. “You are powerful… A human, but one I shouldn’t underestimate. Exciting.” Veit turned with another slash of his sword, but she had drifted farther back with a narcissistic laugh. She was rising into the air, floating on the cloud of her robes, and still her face and hands were visible out of her misty form. Before Veit could move again, he heard footsteps. The guards from before, surely coming to see the source of the commotion. He cursed under his breath and raised a blade to his shoulder. His best option, for the moment, would be retreat, at least until he knew what sorcery the president was performing. “How are you doing this? What are you?” He asked. Once she had floated a good distance away from him, the president lowered back to the ground and reformed into her physical body. She held her chains over her mouth with a demure smile as her bare feet returned to the glass floor. “So you’ve forgotten about the Crystals, too? Yet you delivered one to your Queen… Strong, fast, and ironic. Are all humans like you?” Veit froze. How did she know what he brought to Vainia last night? Better yet… What exactly had he brought her? No more time for thoughts. The door to the balcony exploded with motion and bullets started to fly out. Veit moved fast, dodging the majority of the bullets as he danced to the door with his blades outstretched. Two swings and three men were dead, their stomachs cut open and their lifeblood flowing freely onto the transparent surface beneath them. The other two stepped back to shoot at him more, but Veit threw his swords at them, impaling each soldier in the chest and sending them falling to the ground. “Leaving already?” The president said. She stepped forward, her knives swinging around her slowly. “Where is the Crystal?” Veit asked. His left hand crept behind his back, reaching for the knive he kept strapped right below his butt. He had to kill her, or escape her, and take the Crystal. If what she said earlier was right, Vainia was in danger, and his Queen was a much higher priority than torturing a matriarch in a foreign country. The mysterious mist woman’s eyebrow rose. “At the bottom of the lake, of course. The safest place around. Do you think I’ll let you take it back to Vainia?” “Do you think you have a choice?!” Veit moved with incredible, practiced speed; his arm whipped forward in less than a second, throwing the knife right to the president’s forehead. His accuracy was impeccable and his speed superhuman… but his knife did not make the mark. She moved as soon as he did, swinging her chain forward. The two knives collided and Veit’s spun in place before falling into the glass right in front of her. But by then, Veit had burst forward into the bloody hallway in front of him. He only ran enough to retrieve his blades from the corpses before placing all of his weight on his toes. With power almost enough to destroy his leg muscles, Veit jumped with his head down and his arms over his chest. The jump was unimaginably strong, strong enough for him to smash through the ceiling of glass – and the next ceiling, and the next, until he was slowly rising in the air above the castle. In the moment before he started to drift back down towards the earth, Veit gathered his thoughts. His back had innumerable glass shards embedded within the skin; he wasn’t in pain, but this would definitely slow his movements. He had also gotten shot a few times in the chest… Nothing too major. It wouldn’t be difficult to escape and make it to Vainia without any other issues. But he couldn’t leave without that Crystal. He came up with a plan as he started to land back towards the palace. His trajectory shifted from the angle of his rise, so he was falling towards the lake. He put his blades back in their sheath and lifted his arms up. With this angle, he would fall right down into the lake far below, hopefully with enough force to plunge right to the bottom. Then, he would grab the crystal and swim down to the waterfall, where he would escape safely. From there, swimming towards the docks at Hypnos would be difficult, but not impossible. The plan looked foolproof, until Veit noticed an odd externality that he had not predicted. A large cloud billowed from the balcony towards the lake, and as it drifted over the water source, it expanded. Within seconds, Veit flew closer to the lake, and the cloud above it grew massive. It was a shade of familiar blue, and a familiar laugh of scorn drifted from beneath it. “I will not fail the Leader again!” The cloud was toxic. Veit burst through it coughing heavily, and with one glance at his skin he could see that it was burning off, like he had taken a dive into a pool of acid. If he could feel pain, the wounds would have probably sent him into shock instantly. But the Crimson Death felt no pain. He plunged into the water, diving straight down towards the bottom just as he had planned. The inside of the lake was dark, but Veit swam down, down, down, as fast as he could. Between this and the swim back to Hypnos, Veit was sure that his leg muscles would be borderline destroyed. That was fine. They would heal. The darkness surrounded him and he felt his breath starting to fade, but still Veit dove deeper, until he noticed the Crystal. It was sitting in a podium of pure black dirt, completely untouched by the pressure in the deep. Demersal fish of all kinds and sizes flew around the dark, disturbed by his presence and quickly retreating into the dark abyss of the waters. Between his stressed muscles and the pressure of the lake, Veit found wading towards the Crystal difficult, but he pushed himself and arrived at it within seconds. His breath continued to fade, but Veit walked forward and reached a hand towards the Crystal as he struggled to keep his place at the bottom of the cliff-surrounded lake. As he reached his hand out, however, Veit realized staying at the bottom was getting steadily easier. The water was steadily becoming more discernable. Sunlight began to beam down to the bottom of the lake. He looked up with his cheeks puffed to keep his breath, and almost lost it. The water was rising, and high above him it was congregating into a large, central mass. The water was making a huge humanoid shape. Before Veit’s wide eyes, the water from the lake pulled together and formed a giant image of the President. Fish and rocks swirled around inside her. There was no way for her features to become clear in the translucent mess of a giant object, but her silhouette was clear. Her hands, the flowing mass of her cloak, her long hair, the chains whipping around her, they were all visible in the water. Veit saw her hands rising, the chains flying into the air and coming back down on him like a tidal wave… There was no water around him anymore, only a large crater where the lake once stood. The shock burst out of Veit’s body and replaced with energy and adrenaline, so he ran. The Crystal was left in its spot once the water rose, and Veit grabbed it as he started to run towards where the waterfall once was. Behind him, the chain of water smashed into the ground with enough force to cut through it and send debris flying into the air. That should have killed him. He should have been killed a long time ago. She knew he was strong, but she didn’t know he was immortal. He looked back as he ran towards the opening in the crater and saw the giant water woman whipping her chains toward him with the intent to slice him in half from behind. The Crimson Death jumped, this time with much less power, and vaulted forward. The maneuver set him safely over the hydro-chain and much closer to the opening than before. He was almost there now, and with this realization he started running faster than before. He’d have to swim with just his arms later because the strain on his legs would shatter them after he jumped from the fall opening, but that wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. Veit was going to make it. Once she realized this, the water woman screamed. The sound raised the hair on his neck; it screeched and splashed, as if a creature was being strangled underwater and let loose all its hopes and fears. 'What is this woman?’ He jumped with a mighty effort and could feel his leg bones crumbling to pieces from the superhuman work he forced them to perform. As he flew far, far forward from where the waterfall’s summit once was, down below some 2,000 feet, Veit turned and saw the massive water woman screaming and reaching for him. She was too late. He could not see any features in her still, but Veit knew that she was enraged, hurt, and lusting for his blood. ‘You will not be the one to kill me. Not today.’ The fall into the ocean below was a sharp one, and his body involuntarily convulsed at the power of it. He allowed his body a minute or two to heal as he sank down towards the deep before starting to push himself up with his hands and swim. The travel was slow with his legs crippled and his arms slow, but he was still going reasonably faster than the average swimmer. Many a time Veit turned and glanced back at the cliff from where the castle could be seen, but after he resurfaced from his jump, the president’s horrific water form could not be seen. Once he turned the coast and started swimming towards the high docks of Hypnos, an hour or so later, Veit finally conquered his urge to look behind his shoulder. Soon he could see the buildings of the port town and Vainia’s private airship still docked. He swam, refusing to allow himself to give in and fall down into the tumultuous and shiver-inducing brine. At last he arrived at the rocks near the docks of Hypnos. Veit allowed himself to hold onto a crag by wrapping his arms around it and pulling himself onto it so that only his legs rested in the water. By now the sun was close to setting, and twilight was not far off. He knew there would be soldiers and green cloaks all through the city; even the president herself, if he was unlucky this day. So far luck had not been on his side. Veit thought about hiding the Crystal. It was about the size of a human heart, meaning he could comfortably hold it in one hand. None of the soldiers would believe him if he said the Crystal was lost in the ocean; he would be searched, and there was nowhere for him to hide the artifact on his person. Inside, the human body had two cavities – the abdominal and the thoracic. The artifact would not fit in his belly safely, but he could fit it inside his lungs if he did not breathe deeply… ‘No,’ Veit chastised himself, ‘Then I will not be able to fight. Battle’s thrill and the obstacle within me would rob me of my breath.’ He kicked himself mentally as he caught his breath. What was he thinking? Constantus Veit – no, Gin Taoris – was the Crimson Death. He would get out of this situation just as he had any other: with a sword in his hand and blood on his face. Once the sun set, Veit figured that he allowed his body enough time to rest. He pushed himself off the slippery rock and slid back into the dark ocean, slowly and quietly making his way to the wide docks of the city. He held the Crystal in his weaker left hand and unsheathed a claymore in the right. The bones in his legs had not healed completely yet and his flesh was close to peeling off his muscles from how damaged it was, but his body would hold together enough for him to cut through a couple men and start his airship (for his pilot was probably killed in the hours before). Water dripped off him and there was no moon in the sky, but still his tall and exceedingly muscular body shone in the night. Soon, his taunt and scarred skin would shine crimson red with blood. ‘I am Death,’ he thought to himself as a crazed and determined smile ran across his lips and his eyes narrowed. ‘And my Queen still has use for me.’ ...End of Fifth Intermission. <- Intermission 4 - Corruption - | Main Page | Intermission 5(+1)->